THE £350,000 SPECT scanner at Glasgow's Southern General Hospital detects where seizures are occurring in a brain, allowing more effective surgery for epileptics.

EPILEPSY patients have been waiting nearly a year for treatment after Scotland’s only specialist brain scanner packed in.

The £350,000 SPECT scanner broke down in April and had to be replaced.

Its hand-built Hungarian replacement arrived in May but has “technical issues”.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde don’t know when it will be working properly.

And the UK’s only other scanner, in London, won’t take referrals because of a long waiting list.

The scanner at Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital pinpoints where in a brain the seizures occur, allowing more effective surgery.

Gillian Downie, 22, has chronic epilepsy and has been waiting for a scan since March. Her dad Colin, from Ayr, said: “We have fought long and hard against these delays but there seems to be nothing we can do.”

Margaret Watt, chair of the Scotland Patients’ Association, said: “It’s appalling. The basic NHS principle is care at your time of need and that is clearly not happening.”

A health board spokeswoman said: “We are not transferring patients to London because of lengthy waiting lists.